Talk 2010.12.03
Many of the most interesting problems in current scientific research require interdisciplinary collaborations, spanning a large number of disciplines. From cognitive science and systems biology to environmental studies and challenges like critical evaluations of alternative medicine, we need teams of specialists to talk and work together. However, differences in culture and methodology provide significant barriers for broadly interdisciplinary collaborations. Each discipline has its own approach to knowledge, but because this knowledge is shared within the discipline, most researchers are not aware of the hidden assumptions involved. It is a kind of tacit knowledge, something you learn as a student, without any specific discussion or critical analysis. What is needed for broadly interdisciplinary studies is not only an increase in knowlege, but rather a focus on knowlege of knowledge. What do we know about the limits of how we know? This is the central question that will be addressed in this lecture.
The talk
is now available on YouTube. Slides: pdf
A Game of Arrows:
Widely Interdisciplinary Research
Professor of Astrophysics, and Head of the Program in Interdisciplinary Studies
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, USA